Excessive

So I just finished Ratchet and Clank and that probably means that now would be the best time for me to talk about it, and if and how I enjoyed it and all that jazz. Well I didn't really know much going in, and I had some fun, so let's see what I can come up with.

Ratchet and Clank is a platforming game with heavy shooter influences created by Insomniac Games. It was released in 2002 to good reviews, grabbing it an overall rating of 89% from GameRankings making it the 212th best game of all time, and the 52nd best PS2 game.

At the core of the game is standard platforming (plays like Mario 64, Jak and Daxter, Sly Cooper) but Insomniac injected a ton of shooter aspects to make it different than it's competitors. Instead of jumping or punching enemies, you can buy or find many different weapons to shoot, explode and turn enemies into chickens. With every enemy or box you destroy you gain nuts and bolts which is used as a currency, and you can trade them in for new guns, ammo for the guns you have, or for various gadgets needed to get further into the game. The result is a neat mix between a platformer and a third person shooter.

Before I start talking about the look or sound of the game, I'll start with the story. Oh man! It was great! As far as the platforming genre goes, story doesn't really have any place. Usually there is something generic happening and then you have to go collect things, but in Ratchet and Clank there is a genuine story, where things happen as time goes on, and there are interesting and funny characters and there is a ton of humor in the game. Pretty much every scene is funny, with funny lines, spoofs of other games, small little details in the background that are funny... even the relationship between Ratchet and Clank was very funny and fun to watch. It was definitely my favorite part of the game; it was fun, light harded and genuinely funny.

The game came out over five years ago, but the graphic style they chose to use makes the game perfectly good to look at. It's a cartooney, soft colored style with exaggerated features and lots of neat details. There is never any slow down, it's easy to see enemies coming up, it's easy to see where ammo is, and power ups, and that's all that you can really ask from a platforming. Of course there was nothing jaw dropping about it, but again, since the game is quite old, it's impressive that it looks totally fine.

The sound and music are good enough for what they're needed for, but they're not amazing. The fact that I can't even remember what the music was like is a sign that it's okay. It wasn't so good that it stood out, but it wasn't so bad or annoying that it stands out in my head. Basically, if you don't really even notice there is music, it's good enough for me.

There are a couple negative things I can say about the game however. The smaller complaint is that the game felt kinda short. I completed the game in under 10 hours, and I pretty much only played the game three or four times, so when I got to the last planet I was kind of surprised to see that it was the end of the time. I know that since I own the second and third Ratchet and Clank games I could just play those if I wanted more, but I was kind of expecting the game to be double the length that it was, but perhaps I would've been bored of it by the point, I dunno. It's just a small complaint, not that big of deal because they do give you the option to start a new game+, where you can start over but keep all the things you've collected from your completed game.

My second complaint is a bit of a more important one as it affected my overall enjoyment of the game. The game is basically split into three separate aspects. The platforming, the shooting, and the mini-games. The platforming is great, exactly what I wanted from the genre. The mini-games were fun and a great distraction from the game, breathing some variety into it and making it so you don't get bored. The shooting... well, I've got some issues with the shooting. The controls are not set up like a third person shooter. Enemies fly in the air, some above you, sometimes to your left and right, etc.. and then there are enemies on the ground as well. So, first, you don't have any kind of crosshair or reticle so you have no idea where you'd hit if you shot (and ammo costs money) so killing enemies on the ground beside you is extremely frustrating unless you use a flamethrower because you can just turn it on and spin. Secondly, for enemies in the air, the only way to aim up is to stop moving completely, making you easy to hit, hold the shoulder button to aim in first person, move the crosshair onto the enemy and hope he is in range, and then shoot. but, by the time you can get the crosshair onto the enemy, the enemy or the countless other enemies around you, will have shot you because you're just standing there! They needed a strafe ability... you have to have been able to strafe in order for the shooting to be fun. If I came across enemies in the air, it was so not fun, because it's just a pain to actually hit them.

Regardless of the lack of strafe and freelook, most of the shooting portions were easy enough to just use the flame thrower and the expensive lock-on missles, so it didn't really get in the way of completing the game, it just would've been an amazing game instead of just a good one. It had solid platforming, good mini-games and average (although sometimes frustrating) shooting, and overall the game was a fun 10 hours. I gave the game a 7/10 making it an above average game, and if anyone is looking for a good platformer that's different then all the other standard platforms out there, you can't really go wrong with Ratchet and Clank, especially since the game is so cheap now, and the story and comedy is so great.

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